1^2 DR. R. W. SHUFELDT ON THE [F^b- 3, 



A letter was read from Dr. Emin Pasha, C.M.Z.S., dated Bussisi 

 (on Lake Victoria Nyanza), October 6, 1890, announcing the despatch 

 to the Society of a collection of Birds which he had made on his 

 way up from the coast. 



The Secretary exhibited, on behalf of Mr. J. W. Willis-Bund, 

 F.Z.S., a specimen of the Collared Petrel {(Estrelata torquafa, 

 Macg.), which had been shot oflf the Welsh coast in Cardigan Bay 

 in December 1889, as recorded in the 'Zoologist' for 1890 

 (p. 454). 



This was the first instance of the occurrence of this South-Pacific 

 species in the British seas. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the Question of Saurognathism of the Pici, and other 

 Osteological Notes upon that Group. By R. W. Shu- 



FELDT, C.M.Z.S. &C. 



[Keceived January 9, 1891.] 



For a number of years past the doubt has been growing in my 

 mind as to the correctness of the interpretation placed upon the 

 osseous structures at the base of the skull in the Pici by three 

 morphologists who are the upholders of the idea of a state of sauro- 

 gnathism in these birds. This doubt has been strengthened during 

 these years by many studies of the anatomy of Woodpeckers in all 

 stages of growth and of many species. Within the past year the 

 osteology of all the United States genera of this group in numerous 

 cases, including skeletons of adults, subadults, and nestlings, has been 

 carefully reviewed by me upon ample material. This last investiga- 

 tion has confirmed my doubts. 



Of all those ornithotomists of authority who have made researches 

 in this direction, the opinions of but three shall be adverted to here, 

 and references will be made to Huxley, Parker, and Garrod. 



No blame is attached to that host of most capable systematic 

 ornithologists who, never having dissected a Woodpecker in their 

 lives, have in their published works more or less blindly adopted the 

 views of those who have relegated the Pici to a saurognathous group 

 created to contain them. As is well-known, among the more recent 

 interpreters of the structures exemplified on the part of birds, Pro- 

 fessor Huxley, in his remarkable paper which appeared in the Pro- 

 ceedings of this Society for 1867 on the Classification of Birds, 

 presented the results of some of his studies of the cranial peculiarities 

 seen among the Woodpeckers. And so impressed was he with the 

 apparently unique condition of certain osseous structures seen at the 



